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Individual identity protection
There are a variety of ways to continue to protect yourself from Identity Theft. Such things include monitoring ones financial accounts, reviewing all transactions, staying up to date with alerts provided by bank accounts and credit card companies, and getting your free credit report annually which can be done at annualcreditreport.com.

Tax Identity Theft
One of the major identity theft categories is Tax Identity Theft. Tax Identity theft occurs when someone gains another persons information and uses that to receive a tax refund. The thief in this case can also try to get a job and then their employer will report the income of the real taxpayer, this then results in the taxpayer getting in trouble with the IRS.

The 14039 Formto the IRS is a form that will help one fight against a theft like tax theft. This form will put the IRS on alert and someone who believed they have been a victim of tax related theft will be given a Identity Protection Personal Identification Number (IP PIN), which is a 6 digit code used in replace of a SSN for filing tax returns.

Child Identity Theft
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) estimates that about nine million people will be victims of identity theft in the United States per year. It was also estimated that in 2008 630,000 people under the age of 19 were victims of theft. This then gave them a debt of about $12,799 which was not theirs.

Not only are children in general big targets of identity theft but children who are in foster care are even bigger targets. This is because they are most likely moved around quite frequently and their SSN is being shared with multiple people and agencies. Foster children are even more victims of identity theft within their own family and other relatives. Young people in foster care who are victims of this crime are usually left alone to struggle and figure out how to fix their newly formed bad credit.